Simultaneously traversing: traversing countless heavens

Chapter 24: The Three True Myriad Laws Sword

"You deserve to die!"

The figure on the throne did not move; only three words, like cold iron spikes, were thrown into the silent hall.

That was not an inquiry, not a trial, but a declaration.

"Idiot, run!!!" Chen Motong's pupils suddenly contracted. She reacted almost as soon as the voice arrived, using all her strength to pull the still stunned Lu Mingfei backward.

Almost at the same instant, the most ferocious and exaggeratedly curved giant horse-slaying sword stuck in the back of the throne—[Rage]—was as if pulled out by an invisible hand, transforming into a dark golden lightning bolt that tore through the air and shot straight toward Chen Motong's chest!

Time stretched infinitely in Lu Mingfei's eyes. He saw Nuonuo's taut profile from straining, saw the giant blade of death rapidly enlarging in her eyes, saw that she didn't even have time to show fear... All sounds disappeared, leaving only the deafening pounding of his own heart in his skull, and a suffocating chill that exploded from the deepest part of his soul.

"No----!!!"

He roared with all his might, his voice distorted and deformed, and scalding liquid uncontrollably gushed from his eyes. He reached out, trying in vain to grab something, to block something, but the distance was too great, he was too slow, and he could only watch helplessly as that deadly cold light pierced that familiar red.

In that absolutely still, desperate moment—

"Shouting loudly is useless. The so-called power of words, although it uses language, is actually effective because it is the heart that resonates with the language."

The sea breeze suddenly brushed past his nose, carrying a salty, moist scent. A soft, slightly teasing voice sounded beside him.

Lu Mingfei froze abruptly. The bronze city, the throne, the flying sabers, Nuonuo so close at hand… everything vanished as if erased from a chalk drawing. He found himself standing on the deck of a pristine white sailboat, with a silvery starry sky above him and endless, dark sea stretching as far as the eye could see, with no land or island in sight.

A man sat by the side of the boat, dressed in a well-fitting black suit with an exquisite lace scarf. His face had the innocence of a big child, but his eyes held a profound and... playful quality that was completely incongruous with his appearance.

"Lu...Mingze?" Lu Mingfei was stunned.

"Because you're going to die, I came to see you." Lu Mingze sat leisurely on the gunwale, his legs dangling in the air, kicking the seawater occasionally, splashing up tiny droplets.

"Was that person... the Dragon King?" Lu Mingfei asked urgently, his heart still pounding from the scene he had just witnessed.

"Yes," Lu Mingze said calmly, as if discussing the weather, "the King of Bronze and Fire, whose honorific name is 'Norton.' Tyrannical, cruel, and one of the first beings most deserving of the title 'Son of the Black King.'"

Lu Mingfei stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then suddenly started running back and forth in a comical and hurried manner.

"What are you doing?" Lu Mingze raised an eyebrow.

"Hurry up and warm up!" Lu Mingfei said breathlessly. "I have things to do after I finish my dream! Thanks for calling me, I owe you a favor. I can chat with you sometime later..."

"Go and push that girl aside, take the knife for her?" Lu Mingze interrupted him, his voice tinged with a cold pity. "Don't bother. You think this is a break? While you're dreaming, real time isn't frozen. Right now, in Bronze City, that knife might already be piercing your senior sister's chest, pinning her to a cold bronze pillar. Her blood is rapidly draining away, her consciousness is like a flickering candle in the wind, her heart is beating like an engine about to explode... it could stop at any moment."

He shrugged, his gaze fixed on the distant darkness: "And then, you'll be all alone, facing a dragon king. As a noble first-generation being, he is a direct descendant of the Black King Nidhogg, with extremely pure blood, unparalleled power, and he has devoured all the dragon servants in the city. You're really going to die, at any moment."

"Help me!" Lu Mingfei stopped abruptly, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Lu Mingze. "I don't believe you suddenly brought me here just to say these sarcastic things!"

"Of course I'm not that bored." Lu Mingze turned his head, his golden pupils shimmering slightly in the starlight. "Don't rush. Time moves much slower outside compared to here. So you might still make it back in time—provided you have the ability to save her."

"The ability to contend with or even defeat the Dragon King," he added.

"But I can't do it!" Lu Mingfei clutched his head in anguish. He was just a good-for-nothing, not Caesar, not Chu Zihang, not even as good as Nuonuo.

"I know you can't do it," Lu Mingze said in an almost cruel tone, "You're just a good-for-nothing."

A moment of silence followed, accompanied by the sound of the waves. Lu Mingze suddenly spoke again, his tone becoming somewhat subtle: "Hey, you good-for-nothing, do you even have any... life goals?"

"I don't have time to talk about this right now!" Lu Mingfei roared.

"Tell me about it, maybe I can help you?" Lu Mingze tilted his head, his eyes gleaming mischievously. "Maybe I happen to be very good at... slaying dragons?"

"You?" Lu Mingfei looked him up and down.

"Since we can have this conversation here, you should understand that I'm not an ordinary person," Lu Mingze said, his tone encouraging.

Lu Mingfei took a deep breath and spoke rapidly: "I want to blast a hole in the Himalayas, let the warm winds from the Indian Ocean blow up to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, turn thousands of miles of glaciers into tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, and realize a true Shangri-La!"

"That's a line from Ge You in 'Be There or Be Square,'" Lu Mingze said without even blinking. "Besides, it doesn't make sense geographically. You're talking nonsense."

"You know it's nonsense, why ask?" Lu Mingfei turned around irritably.

"Okay, I understand." Lu Mingze nodded slowly, his voice lowering. "Actually, I can help you. But I have conditions."

"What are the conditions?"

"You've read 'Faust,' haven't you?"

"I've read it; Chen Wenwen recommended it... Oh, you don't know her..."

"No, I know her." Lu Mingze interrupted calmly, "I'm your younger brother Lu Mingze, of course I know Chen Wenwen, whom you've mentioned thousands of times."

"No time for jokes! My cousin is chubby, nothing like you!"

"Mephistopheles made a bet with Faust: to become his servant. If Faust were to find worldly pleasures, the contract would be broken, and his soul would belong to the devil," Lu Mingze said calmly. "My conditions are similar. I'll sign a contract with you, and I'll grant your wishes..."

"Damn it! You want my soul?" Lu Mingfei shuddered.

"Not the soul, but a more complete...life. Body and soul, both included." Lu Mingze's golden eyes locked onto Lu Mingfei. "For someone who doesn't mind exchanging their soul, what meaning does the body hold? A soulless walking corpse?"

"With such a high price, what can you possibly do?"

"Everything...no, almost everything." A slight smile appeared on Lu Mingze's lips.

"Can you handle that Dragon King?"

"It's not easy, but it's possible."

Lu Mingfei gasped. Lu Mingze's expression and tone were too calm, so calm that this absurd deal sounded strangely believable.

"If I get this done, I'm immediately finished?"

"Listen carefully," Lu Mingze said clearly, "The terms of the contract are as follows: You will face the four great dragon kings—the kings of bronze and fire, sky and wind, earth and mountains, and ocean and water. I can accept your summons four times. Each time, I will grant you one wish, and in return, I will take a quarter of your life."

"Four summons? I'll die after I use them all?"

"I will only receive payment if I fulfill your wishes. If I fail, I will not receive a penny," Lu Mingze explained patiently. "When all four wishes are fulfilled, or... when you at some point admit to yourself that you feel 'desperate loneliness' in this world, our contract will be dissolved, and your life will belong to me."

"Loneliness? I get to decide that?"

"You're in charge. The conditions only apply if you personally acknowledge that desperate loneliness." Lu Mingze stared at him. "How about it?"

Lu Mingfei's mind raced. Use three, leave one unused? No, the most important thing now is to save Nuonuo! He gritted his teeth, a nameless, immense fear gripping his heart, as if reaching out meant losing something irretrievable. But the sight of him pulling his hand back was even more horrifying—Nuonuo nailed to the bronze pillar.

"Hurry up! Deal?" Lu Mingfei practically roared, his hand trembling slightly as he reached out. He had to cut off his own escape route, like throwing his hat over a high wall before climbing over it.

"Power is a fascinating thing, brother... once you've experienced power and influence, it's hard to turn back," Lu Mingze said softly, his smile deepening slightly. "You've fallen into my trap."

He reached out and slapped Lu Mingfei's palm crisply.

"Contract established, transaction completed."

"Brother?" Lu Mingfei was stunned. The address was both strange and familiar. In reality, his chubby cousin would only yell at him.

"The gathering, the spellcasting unit, with limitless mana." Lu Mingze's palm then slapped Lu Mingfei's forehead with a peculiar rhythm. "From this moment forward, this secret order is unsealed!"

"Noglues, rendering the opponent unable to use Words of Power, equivalent to 'Words of Power: Discipline'. From this moment forward, this secret command is unsealed!"

Lu Mingfei's forehead throbbed from the slap, feeling utterly bewildered: "What is this? A divine intervention? I don't feel anything!" The gathering and Noglues are both cheat codes for StarCraft.

"Words of Power. Your Words of Power." Lu Mingze withdrew his hand. "Other people's Words of Power are Dragon Chants, why is yours in English? As long as it works, why worry about the form? Also, there's a Word of Power that you just unsealed yourself—"

He slowed his speech, mouthing clearly: "Don't...die."

"That's what you shouted before you came. You desperately want that girl to live, don't you? Now, using the power provided by The Gathering, you can try to manipulate life. This is your... power."

"How come there's such a thing as Chinese word magic?!"

"Words of power use written language as a medium, but you only understand Chinese and English."

Lu Mingze hesitated for a moment: "Just in case, I'll give you a bonus. You can copy a Word of Power ability for a short time, but it can't be too high-level, because you can't control a high-level one. Choose one?"

"Is Caesar's alright?" Lu Mingfei thought for a moment.

"Caesar's? Are you sure? Compared to Caesar's 'Kamaitachi' (serial number 59), Chu Zihang's 'Junyan' (serial number 89) is a much more lethal Word of Power."

"You need to have a general idea before you can imitate it exactly, right?" He had at least seen Caesar use it.

"Alright, 'Kamaitachi,' I'll temporarily unseal you as well." Lu Mingze's hand stroked Lu Mingfei's forehead again. In an instant, many blurry fragments of images flashed through Lu Mingfei's mind, bringing a sense of unease, but he couldn't quite grasp them.

"Go! Lu Mingfei!" Lu Mingze suddenly raised his head, letting out a low, regal roar that was completely at odds with his appearance. "Judgment! This is your stage!"

At the same time, he did something extremely mischievous—he kicked Lu Mingfei in the lower back!

"We promised we wouldn't postpone it anymore—!!!"

Lu Mingfei's protest was swallowed by the sound of the falling wind as he plunged towards the dark sea.

The field of vision suddenly shifted.

The cold bronze hall, the pale blue lights, the menacing, flying giant blade, and Nono's wide-open eyes in horror... everything was back. Time seemed to have passed in an instant, and the tip of the horse-slaying sword named "Rage" was less than a foot away from Nono's chest.

Lu Mingfei opened his eyes.

Without hesitation, without a shout, a strange power surged through his body like a glacier bursting its banks, accompanied by a cold and absolute resolve. He reached out, not to block, but to grab the sword called [Wrath], his lips parting slightly as he uttered a command, extremely soft yet carrying an unquestionable law:

"Black sheep wall."

However, he was too focused, all his senses concentrated on the red figure and the deadly blade in front of him, so he failed to notice—

Another, even colder and swifter trajectory, like a ghostly light, arrived first despite starting later.

That was [Jealousy], a straight Tang sword with a bluish-gray gleam on its blade.

puff.

The dull thud of a sharp weapon piercing flesh and bone was exceptionally clear in the empty hall. The tip of the blade emerged from Lu Mingfei's back, tinged with a shocking crimson. The immense impact sent him flying backward like a butterfly pierced by a nail.

"No!!!" Power surged through his body. Lu Mingfei felt he could do anything. Naturally, that included saving his senior sister. However, reality slapped him mercilessly. At this moment, Lu Mingfei had never realized so clearly that even with cheat codes, he was still just a piece of trash.

On his throne, Norton's lips curled into a subtle, almost cruel smile. He seemed to deliberately control the speed and angle of his [Jealousy], ensuring that Lu Mingfei, in the instant his vision was unobstructed after being knocked back, could clearly see—

The weapon, [Rage], was aimed at Chen Motong's heart with overwhelming force.

He wanted to make the intruder watch helplessly as his companion perished.

However, in the next instant, something unexpected happened.

[Rage] The incomparably sharp blade tip, upon touching Chen Motong's chest clothing, and even seemingly touching his skin, seemed to have struck an absolutely invisible yet indestructible barrier.

Om-!

With a low, almost imperceptible ringing sound that caused the entire bronze palace to tremble slightly, the cleaver symbolizing the Dragon King's tyrannical power was suddenly thrown back by an irresistible force! It spun and flew backward, drawing a tragic arc, and finally, with a "clang," it was deeply embedded in the ground in the distance, the blade still trembling incessantly.

Chen Motong was unharmed, but was pushed back by the invisible force that exploded, his face also filled with astonishment.

"Traitor!!!"

Norton abruptly rose from his throne. His dazzling golden eyes, like two burning miniature suns, suddenly ignited, and boundless dragon might poured forth like a tsunami, causing the entire Bronze City to tremble in his fury.

His gaze shifted from Chen Motong. His burning golden eyes stared intently, as if they could pierce through the thick bronze walls and the deep river, toward a certain direction behind Chen Motong and Lu Mingfei—more precisely, toward the boundless darkness of the river beyond the Bronze City.

His gaze seemed to meet that of another calm yet incredibly sharp gaze in the void.

boom--!!!

An indescribable roar erupted as the two people's gazes met, and their invisible domains clashed violently!

Click, click, boom!

The magnificent and sturdy bronze city seemed to have been transformed into a fragile sandcastle. Walls, giant pillars, domes, passageways... everything was instantly twisted, cracked, and turned to dust under the crushing force of an unimaginable power! As far as the eye could see, the solid bronze structure was as if it had been brutally crushed by an invisible giant hand, leaving behind large areas of hideous holes and broken remains. The once solemn palace was reduced to a shattered ruin in an instant.

"Lu Mingfei—!"

Chen Motong only had time to let out a short cry of surprise before she was violently struck by the terrifying aftershocks of the collision of the domains. Like a red falling leaf, she was involuntarily thrown out, crashing through a collapsing bronze wall, and plummeting rapidly towards the bottomless, cold, dark waters below.

Her vision spun, and the icy river water surged in from all directions, overwhelming her consciousness. In the last moment before she fell into complete unconsciousness and her memory faded, she vaguely glimpsed something in the rapidly sinking chaos—

In the abyss, the darkness that was originally as still as ink was suddenly torn apart by a beam of light!

No, that's not light.

That was a sword's edge.

Water, the hazy light in the distance, the almost pitch-black deep blue... everything within sight was cleanly and decisively separated by that single sword strike! It was as if the world had just begun, with the clear and the turbid separated.

A blurry figure stood silently and upright in the abyss "cleaved" by the sword's edge.

Holding a long sword, he stood calmly high above, across the distant waters and the shattered bronze city, silently watching her fall.

"The Three Truths... The Sword of Ten Thousand Laws..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

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Four consecutive climaxes followed immediately.